Halo: The Reclaimer
by Neo Pryde
Summary: The story of a Forerunner Reclaimer sent to retrieve the Index by the Forerunner Council of the Divine, but myseteriously disappears before he can finish his job.... This fanfic is the precursor to Halo: The Battle of Earth.
1. The Reclaimer

Halo: The Reclaimer  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Halo at all. Halo is owned by Bungie and the Microsoft Corporation. "I still don't see why I'm stuck with you," shouted Xzaalbarth as he fired his Plasma Rifle at a Flood Combat Form. "Simple," said a floating, spherical object, with a bright, blue, glowing eye in the center of his metal frame. "The Forerunner Council of the Divine -- with all due respect to your talents – deems that you are still not capable against the Flood. That is why the Council sent me. I am a genius," the little AI chuckled to himself. Xzaalbarth clubbed an unlucky Infection Form with the butt of his Rifle.  
"I see you are modest," Xzaalbarth remarked sarcastically.  
"Why thank you," 343 Guilty Spark said, sarcasm obviously not in his vast database. Xzaalbarth was a Forerunner, but not just any Forerunner, but a legendary hero, and a brilliant inventor. Throughout all his years however, he had never seen such a race as the Flood. The Forerunner ruling body: The Council of the Divine, sent him to retrieve the Index from the Library of Halo 04 to contain the outbreak that had recently occurred. He was then to reunite the Index with the Core of Halo and wipe out all "food" for the Flood, within 25,000 light years of Halo 04. Although all Forerunner citizens had been evacuated from this blast area, two civilizations still remained, those that were not of the Forerunners. A primitive, ape-like race that had till recently discovered fire: Humans; and a warlike, religious race that worshipped the Forerunners like gods, and every race they conquered became apart of this grand race: The Covenant.  
  
End of Chapter 1 


	2. The Escape

Halo: The Reclaimer, Chapter 2  
  
Xzaalbarth rolled his eyes at that last statement by the Monitor and fired at a cluster of Combat Forms with his Rifle. Limbs were flying in the air, and the Floods inhuman screams could be heard a kilometer away. Xzaalbarth felt something cold and slimy touch him on the back, followed by a sharp pain. Xzaalbarth cried out and then hit the injection form that was trying to lodge itself into Xzaalbarth. The form immediately exploded into wet fleshy bits.  
  
"You need to be more careful, Reclaimer," said the Monitor.  
  
"No shit," remarked Xzaalbarth, angrily. Xzaalbarth then lobbed a Plasma Grenade at a cluster of injection forms, and they exploded.  
  
"I'm wasting to much time..." Xzaalbarth thought.  
  
He then charged through the angry group of combat forms, injection forms, and carrier forms; bashing, stepping and firing on them as he went. Plasma fire from the Plasma Rifles the Flood had captured earlier, filled the air, extremely irritated that their food was running away from them. Xzaalbarth run out of the Flood housing complex, and into a swamp, the same swamp where Captain Keyes would be at, and the Master Chief being sent to rescue, 10,000 years into the future. Xzaalbarth just kept firing behind him and yelling curses as he ran. He then came across, and almost tripped over, the wing of a Forerunner Banshee. Xzaalbarth wasted no time jumping into the Banshee and powering up its engines. As he lifted off, plasma fire passed his wings. He eventually gained enough altitude to be out of firing range from the Flood and their plasma weapons. Even though the Banshee was a fast craft, he needed to think of a way to get to the Index faster. He then thought of it.  
  
"Hey, Spark."  
  
"Hmm??"  
  
"What if we used the Teleportation Network across Halo to get to the Library?" asked Xzallbarth.  
  
"We can't," replied 343 Guilty Spark. "You know as well as I do that the Teleportation Network is down, since the Flood attacked the Primary and Secondary Power Generators. I told you this before." Xzaalbarth frowned. 343 Guilty Spark never mentioned this to him at all. Xzaalbarth was beginning the think the little AI was starting to become insane. His thought was interrupted as a green ball of energy came out of nowhere and imploded into his wing. His Banshee's engines died, and the craft came hurtling towards the ground.  
  
End of Chapter 2 


	3. Into the Abyss

Halo: The Reclaimer, Chapter 3

Xzaalbarth coughed as he climbed out of the blackened wreckage of the Forerunner Banshee. He coughed again, and examined the wreck.

"Hmmm...must have been a Fuel Rod blast. Just fucking great..."

"Language, Reclaimer," said Guilty Spark 343. "Now that I have thought about it, I know a few ways to assist you."

"How?" asked Xzaalbarth, annoyed.

"Like this," and with that, a dozen Forerunner Sentinels flew over to Xzaalbarth. Two of them had a Ghost connected to them, which they deposited next to Xzaalbarth.

"That's handy, which way do we go now?" asked Xzaalbarth, as he climbed into the Ghost and powered it up.

"Twenty-nine degrees south, by south-west," said Guilty Spark 343.

With that, the Reclaimer sped off, towards the direction of a large mountain. Twenty minutes later, they arrived at the entrance of a large, Forerunner installation. They met no Flood resistance, yet.

"Keep your eyes open," said Xzaalbarth to the Sentinels, as he readied his Plasma Rifle and Energy Sword. Just as he said that, a group of Flood Infection forms crawled out, and jumped around, and jumped up to the Sentinels. They fired their powerful beams and destroyed the Infection forms easily. Next, two Combat Forms leapt up from the shadows, and attacked Xzaalbarth. He fired his Plasma Rifle at one, while activating his Energy Sword with his right hand, and split the other Combat form in half, horizontally. Both flew back, and gooey, green blood covered Xzaalbarth.

The Monitor chuckled. "Hehehe. Ready to move on yet, Reclaimer?"

Xzaalbarth was tempted to shoot the damn thing with his Rifle, but he resisted the urge. He simply nodded. The dozen Sentinels, the Monitor, and the Reclaimer all entered the complex. The Sentinels floated around, their weapons aimed in all directions, forming a circle, with the Monitor and the Reclaimer in the middle.

"We have now arrived at the Library," said the Monitor. "Please, wait here while I go and disengage the first level of security." And with that the Monitor sped away. Immediately, dozens of Infection Forms, Combat Forms, and Carrier Forms appeared. The Sentinels started blasting away with their lasers, dispatching unlucky Infection Forms and Combat forms that they hit.

Xzaalbarth threw a plasma grenade, and it stick onto the face of a Combat Form. He simply kept on running, firing his Plasma Rifle at Xzaalbarth. A few seconds later, the Combat Form exploded, destroying a few Infection Forms that were around it, and setting off a Carrier Form, which set off a large chain reaction. Over half the attacking Flood force was killed.

Xzaalbarth activated his Energy Sword, and shouted something in Forerunner, and charged straight at a group of Infection Forms. He sliced them up, with a touch of his sword, and the exploded. A Combat Form leapt high into the air, and just as it was about to land on Xzaalbarth, Xzaalbarth executed a spin, and jumped upward wit h his sword.

The mighty Energy Sword cut straight through the Combat Form, and his corpse landed on the ground in many pieces. Xzaalbarth wiped off some of the gore from his face. The battle was over. The Forerunner party lost only one Sentinel. Xzaalbarth checked his Plasma Rifle. Its charge was at around 10. He swapped it for a fresh Plasma Rifle from the Flood remains and waited for the Monitor to return.

Humming, a happy Monitor arrived, and the mighty security barrier opened.

"Quickly, Reclaimer, there are still 12 more of these to go." Xzaalbarth groaned. He knew this was going to be a long day.

End of Chapter 3.


	4. Waking the Giant

Halo: The Reclaimer Chapter 4 

After many hours and hours of fighting his way through the Library, and passing through all twelve security barriers, a very tired Xzaalbarth made it to the last security barrier. The Monitor returned via a vent and was humming happily to himself. Green gore and blood covered Xzaalbarth, and he had about 5 left in his Plasma Rifle, and long ran out of Plasma Grenades.

In his left hand, he still wielded his Energy Sword. The Security barrier opened, and a great pulse of light shot out from the middle of the room. It was so bright, Xzaalbarth had to cover his eyes.

"We have now arrived at the Index," said the Monitor.

"About time," mumbled Xzaalbarth. And as he said this, a dozen Combat Forms, hundreds of Injection Forms, and a couple of Carrier Forms came racing after him. "Son of a bitch...here we go again." Xzaalbarth swept into action, firing his Plasma Rifle at the Injection Forms, and activated his Energy Sword.

The Injection Forms exploded by the hundreds, and a Combat Form leapt up and swung at Xzaalbarth. Xzaalbarth swung back with his Energy Sword, and promptly cut the Combat Form in two, killing it instantly. Xzaalbarth noticed a Carrier Form had crept a bit to close to him, and he raised his Rifle to fire. He pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened.

Xzaalbarth muttered a curse, and threw the useless weapon at the Carrier Form, who exploded as the weapon hit it. A pair of Combat Forms, and a dozen Injection Forms went up like a bomb.

"Come on!" yelled Xzaalbarth at the Monitor, and he ran right past the angry Flood. He jumped up onto the platform that was at the center of the room, and it lowered. The Flood didn't follow him after this. The Monitor was humming. The platform lowered slowly until it arrived at the bottom level of the Library.

The Index glowed a brilliant bright green, and the security barriers around it opened, and Xzaalbarth hesitated at first to grab the Index. After a few seconds of thought, he pulled it out, and the Monitor sucked it up.

"Protocol dictates I handle the Index from here on, Reclaimer, as you can still be infected, and we do not want the Index to be captured by the Flood." And with that, the Monitor and Xzaalbarth teleported out of the Library.

"I thought you said the teleporters didn't work," said an irritated Xzaalbarth.

"They didn't," replied the Monitor. "We just fixed them moments ago. You may not return the Index to the core." And the Index fell into Xzaalbarth's hands. He hesitated again. After looking at the Index, Xzaalbarth turned to the Monitor.

"I have a question, Spark. If you had to do this, would you?" asked Xzaalbarth.

The Monitor paused for a long while, and he didn't answer. Xzaalbarth shrugged. He knew what his orders were. He was ordered by the Forerunner Council of Divine to activate Halo, and kill all sentient life within 25,000 light years of Halo, to prevent the spread of the Flood.

He also knew that many Forerunners refused to leave, including his family. He didn't want to kill them just over a small chance the Flood would leave. He took the Index, and placed it under his boot and crushed it. The Index shattered into a thousand million pieces.

The Monitor was shocked. "You—You destroyed the Index! This is a violation of Protocol! The Council will not be pleased!" The Monitor started sputtering around the Control Room, and muttering, angrily. "I do not know what to do but...GUARDS!" And instantly, a hundred Forerunner Guardians appeared out of nowhere, and were about to charge Xzaalbarth, but stopped.

"Ah, old friends, you recognize me. If you know what's right, then you'll follow me, where the stars never rise, and life is safe. If you follow me, you'll never return to your families, never see them again, but they will be safe. If you do not, then you have just condemned our race, and our neighbors, the young ones we were charged to care. Do you join me now on my Exodus?"

Many of the Guardians paused, and turned towards the Reclaimer, and back at the Monitor. They all nodded.

"Good, then prepare for teleportation." And with that the Reclaimer and his men disappeared.

"This is outrageous!" yelled the Monitor.

The Monitor would be so outraged, he'd eventually contact the Forerunners, and have them send in additional Sentinels to deal with the Flood, and he asked for a new Index, which was given to him a thousand years later. Halo 15 eventually activated at the Forerunner Homeworld, and killed all the Forerunners in the galaxy, leaving behind their legacy for the younger races to pick up.

As for Xzaalbarth, he and his men teleported to the Waco system, to Halo 01, and killed all the Flood there, and stored the fate of all races there, and he kept all the Guardians at the key points of Halo 01 so that no race could ever activate it and carry out the destruction the Monitor wished, and what happened to the Forerunners.

Xzaalbarth himself went into Cryo Storage in the Room of Captive Wisdom in Halo 01, were he would spend many thousands of years, watching over Halo in his dreams, until one day in the Earth Calendar 2552...

Xzaalbarth sensed in his sleep that he had company, and many of his kin had been killed. He heard noises outside of pod, and a loud _thump _was heard in the Room of Captive Wisdom, and a loud speaker spoke in Forerunner: Behold, the Ancient One awakens! Gods tremble at his name!

And the pod that Xzaalbarth was kept in for so many millennia hissed open, and Xzaalbarth opened his eyes. In front of him was...him. But it wasn't him. It was a person a few inches shorter than him, but wearing an armor more primitive than his, but in the same fashion. Three others like him stood in front of the pod. There were others behind them.

Xzaalbarth leapt out of the pod, and flipped over the armored figure. He activated his energy sword, but he noticed that the strangers, while armed, seemed very much afraid of him. He deactivated the sword with a grin, and glanced at each of the newcomers. He even walked up to a few and smelled them.

They gave off a meaty odor. He did this to each one of them, and then looked at the armored figures again, and was amazed at how much their armored resembled his own. He spoke in Forerunner. "Why have you come here?" he asked.

The one who awoke him seemed puzzled, and spoke in a language Xzaalbarth never heard off.

"We mean you no harm. We are Humans, from the planet Earth." Xzaalbarth thought again. He remembered hearing about Earth, and the Humans. They were incredibly primitive at the time of his slumber. They must have advanced rapidly, or he slept for a long time. He could hear others speaking on the radio, and he easily picked up their language.

He finally spoke. "My name is Xzaalbarth. My kin call me the Reclaimer."

End of Chapter Four.

Author's Note: If you haven't read my other fanfictions, this ending is the same as the ending of Chapter 6, of Halo: The Battle of Earth. I'll be continuing this fanfic, but it will be the same information presented in the Battle of Earth, but from Xzaalbarth's view. Read both of these fanfics, and review them, please.

-Admiral Neo


End file.
